Your Right to Know

A Perry County woman is getting state help finding a new home in Colorado for her four lions and
four bears because she can’t meet the requirements of Ohio’s new exotic animals law.

At least some of the animals being relocated originally belonged to Terry Thompson, the
Zanesville man who created an international uproar when he released his personal menagerie of
exotic animals last October. Thompson then committed suicide.

Agriculture spokeswoman Erica Pitchford Hawkins declined to identify the woman, who lives in
rural Perry County. She said the animals will be relocated, possibly next week, to a sanctuary in
Colorado that agreed to accept them.

A spokeswoman for The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colo., acknowledged the facility
will accept the Ohio animals. The 720-acre facility specializes in rescuing large carnivores and
bears.

“We were contacted by the owner who said she does not have the financial resources to make
the upgrades to be able to meet the requirements of the new law,” Hawkins said. “We’ve been trying
to make sure folks understand that will we will do everything in our power to connect them with a
sanctuary if they cannot keep their animals.”

The state is not bearing any of the cost of the transfer to the facility in a largely
unpopulated area northeast of Denver, she said.

The state law triggered by the Zanesville incident kicked in last month. Owners have until
Nov. 2 to register animals on a restricted-species list with the state or face the possibility of
criminal charges and having their animals seized after the full ban takes effect Jan. 1, 2014.

Hawkins said the state recently helped a Seneca County resident find a home for an alligator
after a children’s services worker discovered the animal in a mobile home during a routine visit to
check on small children who lived there. The animal was transferred to the local humane society,
then relocated.

The agriculture department, which is responsible for overseeing the new law, is building a
$3.5 million facility to house seized and surrendered exotic animals on the grounds of its
headquarters at 8995 E. Main St., in Reynoldsburg. The facility will not be completed until
sometime next year.

More information about restricted species and registration is available online
here.